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Fool's Gold BearsHi Ladies,
Oh, my gosh! I had no idea my little invitation would grow into the such a gathering. Should be fun, though. I will try to come up with something to share with others.
Here's a little something to think on. I'm going into town to get a massage from my daughter who is a m. therapist. Teddy bears and computers seem to be awfully hard on my neck and upper back. Does anyone have ideas of how to alleviate those terribly tight muscles? I do the usual stretches that I know and get up every so often and take a break, but am I destined to deal with this forever?
Sore Hugs,
Aww! I'm so sorry and I hear ya! I just joined our local park district gym on the recommendation of my physical therapist. I hurt my back from bad posture while creating bears last JULY! Not 100% yet but SO much better!!!!!
He gave me excercizes to strengthen my abs and told me to cycle or treadmill every day too. Took me a while... but I finally bit the bullet and joined!
I tell ya, the excercizes really helped, but once I started doing my cycling every (week)day, the results were just amazing! And I'm only doing 15 minutes a day right now at a low level. I've learned that my body can only take very small steps when it comes to increasing excercize. Very frustrating as I used to run 3 miles a day. But that's they way it is.... so now I'm cycling and adding ONLY 1 minute to every day. (Tried doiing more than that & I ended up slipping backwards cause I was SO tired and I hurt myself again.
Anyways... just trying to say that although you probably don't have time to do it... you may be surprised at how much better you feel! I also used to hurt across the shoulders too! I'm MUCH looser there now!
(I really don't have time to work out either... but it's a lot better than pain!!):D
Posts: 8,574WoooHooo!
Boy do I hear you! My honey is having a spa put in. He says it will help my arthritis, especially in Oregons long cold wet winters...( I know- I shouldn't complain, some of you really have cold winters!)
I think it will help my bearing muscles-
I do have a silly little neck exercise I have done for years....I lie on the bed and let my head hang over the side, so that my head is at right angles to my body. Then I just lift it up and down asnd up and down and......you get the picture.
I actually started it because I had to French Braid my butt-long hair to get it up and tucked out of the way so that the inmates couldn't grab it during take downs. I realized that it was using the muscles that often lead to sagging and double chins
Sooo I kept it up--no double chin 
Butt-long hair? French braids? Inmates? Take-downs?
I feel somehow I'm missing a piece of this story, Dilu... and I so hate being out of the loop. Please, fill me in!
Delartful BearsGee Shelli - you are sooo nosey!
:lol:
I am kind of wondering tooooo...LOL.... I just wouldn't have been game enough to ask us to fill us in
Thanks Shelli!! LOL I'm still laughing here.
Winneybears and FriendsI too get my shoulder/ neck in a bind if I work too long at making bears...it's mainly from looking down at what's in my hands...the other task that gets ,me into trouble is stuffing...So... We all know you must change taks often when making anything so you use different muscle groups... somehow we get so ingrosed in our work or under a deadline so we push it too hard.
I too think sometimes it is because of the way I sit or what I sit on , how my feet are crossed under my chair ? or not..I do cross them tho ,so now I am aware of that and switch often..I notice when I do switch that it releives....guess what..... my back !
We do strange things to our bodies with out even noticing it til we get a constant pain...so pay attention to your own little quirks and what it causes then maybe you can alleivate some of the pains by figuring out what you can do to compensate or change your little quirk..he, he....Winney
Fool's Gold BearsAAAAh!!!
Feeling much better now, though, as you might guess, still not 100%, despite a wondrous two-and-a-half hour massage. Eat your hearts out, Honeys!! 
:lol::lol: In the words of Jessica Rabbit, "What a lucky goil!!!" Whoops!!!, that was Betty Boop, speaking of Jessica Rabbit.
Not everyone gets to have a massage therapist daughter. Even so, with my tremendous discount, paying her for one hour instead of the actual lengthy massage I got is beyond my budget except for a rare treat.
Very relaxed Hugs,
Posts: 8,574Good for you miss Triple A Laure
Can you bring your daughter to Cave Junction- I have a massage table and would cheerfully pay FULL price. I used to get them every single week- in the good old days when I worked and didnt have more important obsessions like glass eyes and upholtery thread!
Glad you feel better
It's not easy being green with envy:rolleyes:
Posts: 8,574OK Shelli et.al.
I worked in a psychiatric hospital. I was a supervisor of sorts on night shift before I graduated up to the intake office and day shift.
TAKEDOWNS: You have a patient who is going bonkers-trying to hurt his or herself , or trying to hurt staff. You've all heard that insane or cranked people can be incredably strong. It's soooooo TRUE
It could tak 5 really big-football player size- guys to take down a 15 year old girl who was psychotic or on crank.
And you want to take them down without injury to yourself or the patient. Long hair was a favorite thing for patients to grab-they also are partial to biting, kicking, spitting, (hepatitis or aids anyone?) gouging with nails- you name it.
The world of the mentally disturbed can be a scarry place, for everyone, and they become very inventive when they are in the throes of whatever is tormenting them.
I ended up cutting off the hair-way too much trouble when you are wrestling around on the floor with 5 or 6 other people.
It was a really great job-we had a lot of fun working because it was the only place in the world I have ever worked where the staff stood together-no bitchiness, no backbiting or gossip.
Why?
Because the very person you bad mouthed or slammed last week might be the only protection between you and some serious physical damage.
So there was a strong feeling of commeraderie and support-all for one and one for the road....
I have lots of funny stories from the assylam
My favorite weapon created by an inmate was his "light sabre" and being as how the last Star Wars movie is out it fits. He believed he was of the Jedi master group- he somehow managed to get the cage surrounding the cieling lights in his room open. He took out a long florescent tube and broke off one end.
Ah Hah! They called for me to high tail over to that unit.
So there is this poor guy thinking that everyone around him are evil storm troopers-
The first thing that came to my mind was "help me Obi Wan Kenobi- you're my only hope"......He looked at me, and he said " I must protect you" and I said "you have passed my test, you are truly a Jedi Knight, you guys take off your storm trooper suits and let him see the company of Jedi Knights he is in. "
The staff standing around him looked at me like I had grown an extra head-
He literally handed over his 'light saber' which was pretty scarry, and calmly took his shot ( a hefty dose of Haldol, ) and drank some milk and went to bed- in a new room where he couldn't get another light sabre.
Also he wasn't on 15 min. checks that night- he had his very own gaurdian with him, I told the guys not to leave him alone for a minute. I had a motto - "they all gotta be breathing at 7:00 AM"
Why was that the first thing that came to my mind? I was trying to teach our parrot to say it, and you have to say a complicated phrase over and over for her to get it. She never did.
I did finally get her to say WATER I felt like Annie Sullivan with Helen Keller, I was so jazzed!
OK
Princess Dilu signing off from Planet O Brien
Past Time BearsWow, Dilu . . . what an adventurous career you've had!! It had to have its rewarding times, huh? And such quick thinking on how to calm the Jedi knight!!
Fool's Gold BearsDilu,
Wonderful story!! Wish I had been there with a video camera. That is one to tell to the generations that follow. Do you have grandkids?
Delartful Bears
What an amazing story!!!!!!! Nearly as entertaining as I had imagined LOL I guess I have a wild imagination, but I'm not nearly as quick thinking as you must be Dilu!!!
Posts: 8,574Had to be quick thinking there- not usually life or death but the differance between injury and non injury.....but we had a lot of fun there too. Of all my nursing jobs that one was the hardest and the most fun-
But sometimes bad things happened, like suicides, stuff like that. I was extreamly lucky that I never had it happen on my shift. But, I used to pray over my shift, and over the patients and staff I was responsible for. I really believe I had a lot of help from God.
People are infinetly fascinating. The job was humbeing, because it made me realize how close to the edge most of us tap dance, without even knowing it. And their world can be very scarry.
Most of the folks there were just like us, ordinary guys and gals with ordinary jobs and then something happens-and suddenly their lives are upside down-
It is sometimes overwhealming and they just can't quite figure out how to get back on track again. A lot is depression left untreated and it can get out of hand, leading to suicide attempts. But they came in looking for safety while they worked through the problems.
I believe that every single one of us could be there in a heart beat, just depending on what happens, how we react to the stressor, and what kind of support system we have. There but for the Grace of God.
Sometimes the only thing that got me through a bad shift was a quick prayer and absolute faith we could do it.
We kept teddy bears on the childrens unit to help the little tykes.....and they did, the bears, they helped alot....the little ones, usually they just needed a safe place to be while we got mom and dad into a parenting class.
Oh well
I have an unbelievably purple bear pinned that I dyed yesterday and would like to sew up today. Yikes! It is synthetic so I got the dye from Beary Cheap in Australia. Many thanks to those who sent me there- the instructions said to let it boil for an hour-I only let it boil for 15 min and it looks like grape KoolAid.
It's for the Peta Princess my son is in love with. No wool....haven't heard back on the silk issue yet.
Wish me luck!
:)
I'm feeling wonky today Dilu
OH! OH! OH! you guys need to go to Jane's site- she has the cutest Gollys!!! "Doodlebears"
